As the bird flu outbreak in Krushnaprasad block spread to other areas in Puri district, mass culling of chicken continued in the affected villages on Wednesday.

Nearly 1,000 chickens were found dead at a farm in Naba village of Krushnaprasad on the day.

Fisheries and  Animal  Resources Development Minister  Pradeep Maharathy  admitted that the situation  in the district was grim and said adequate steps  were being  taken to ensure that the bird flu did not spread  to other  areas of the district  and outside.   

After the detection of avian influenza virus in four villages under Krushna Prasad block three days ago, the administration began mass culling of chickens.

As per reports, 300 chickens were segregated from the farm of a poultry farmer Sunil Nayak of Nandaka village on Wednesday.

Earlier, on December 16, over 400 birds had been culled and buried in two farms at Maluda and Patharganj villages.

Seven teams are engaged in the culling operation carried out in a phased manner within one km radius of the affected areas at Maluda, Buda Sahi, Sana Sahi, Nua Sahi and Patharghati villages.

Meanwhile, laboratory reports of the blood samples from the infected birds were yet to be received.

However, the poultry farmers in the affected area are a worried lot due to the death of huge number as they were carrying out their business with loans from banks and other financial institutions.

The Puri district Collector informed that till now, Rs 95,000 has been disbursed to the affected farmers.

As a precautionary measure, the State Government has asked schools and Anganwadi Centres not to provide eggs to children. Similarly, sale of eggs and chicken has been banned in Krushna Prasad block for next few days.